


The Man in the Emerald Tower

by AthenaeGalea



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Pacing is a dark art
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2019-10-03 03:46:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17276495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaeGalea/pseuds/AthenaeGalea
Summary: Episodes in Ozpin's life managing a school and an unending war.





	1. Europe is the less

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happened while trying to write another idea which neither wants to go away nor to be written. With any luck I'll have that here soon. In the meantime, at least this only had one of those properties.

In wars, people die. Ozpin’s job was to stop that as much as he could. That was what made the latest report so painful.

Lilac Griffin, a member of team CHiSeL, which had won the only-slightly-forced nickname “Cavalierish” for their... direct approach to problem-solving, had been killed. She’d graduated a bit more than five years ago, with flying colours. Ozpin remembered her as a dynamic girl, with a friendly word of encouragement for everyone and an eagerness to throw her all into every task. He realised he was already composing her obituary. But before that, there was a letter to write.

 

_Dear Mr and Mrs Griffin,_

_As Headmaster of Beacon Academy and Commander of the Hunters, it is my solemn duty to inform you with my deepest regrets of the death of your daughter, Lilac Griffin, on mission in eastern Vale._

_She and her team were ambushed by a horde of Grimm and she gave her life allowing the rest of her team to escape._ [Ozpin didn’t know yet if this was true, but that’s probably what her team would say anyway. It also probably wasn’t _un_ true.] _Cobalt Harris, the team leader, will be in contact with you shortly with further details._

_From my limited contact with Lilac, I found her to be a brilliant woman of true talent, able to work well with everyone and constantly helping those around her either professionally or personally. All of us share in your loss._

_The memorial service, unfortunately lacking her remains as they could not be recovered, will be held in five days, with full honours. The Hunters will assist with setting up a private service for family and close friends as well. Huntsman Harris will provide you with further information on this subject._

_Details of death benefits and other financial and legal matters will be sent along to you. If I can help you with those or any other matters at this most difficult time, please do not hesitate to contact me._

_With my deepest regrets,_

_Professor Ozpin, Headmaster_

 

That was one unpleasant task done. He took a sip from his ever-present mug, and readied himself to look at the series of errors he was sure he’d made leading up to this tragedy.

Goodwitch came in, having loaded the pertinent details onto her scroll. She plugged it in to show a map of the area.

“The area was of course understaffed. A high concentration of Grimm stopped the two previous rounds of scouts before they could reach the place where the encounter took place. They didn’t have enough people available to keep numbers down. However, Chisel would have been able to at least retreat from any expected number. In _hindsight_ though, we should have realised that the bandit attack on Reinhart, here...” She pointed to a village about twenty miles away, administered by a different section. Ozpin put his head in his hands.

“... would have increased the numbers of-. Ozpin. You know this wasn’t your fault.” She always said that, and it was never true.

Ozpin raised his gaze to her. “Not my fault? Glynda, _I_ chose her for this life. I chose the team which failed to protect her. I organised the structure which sent her into an unwinnable fight. There is no aspect of this which is _not_ my fault.” He stood up and looked out of the window. “They trust me to protect them. Even without all of that, it _must_ be my fault.”

“You can’t take the burden of the whole war on yourself.”

“It is mine to hold. I can’t give it to anyone else.” He turned back to her. “But to the topic at hand. I want suggestions on how to improve communication between the sections. You’ve always been better at that than I have. Let’s see if we can make it stick this time, shall we?" Glynda nodded grimly.

After some discussion of the specifics, Ozpin moved to more positive matters. “Now let’s have a look at the specs of the new AK unit. Do these have the range to conduct missions on their own? It would be good to have some relatively-disposable scouts.”

Goodwitch smiled. Ironwood wouldn’t like his top-of-the-line equipment being described as “disposable”. Compared to the alternative, though...

She brought up a table of numbers. “Not quite. Though by removing some of this armour, I think we can ask for them to.”

Ozpin smiled slightly for the first time since receiving the report.

“I think James plans to make us obsolete, Glynda. And what a wonderful day that will be.”

 

It was now a few hours after the report was first received, and Ozpin had another difficult communication to make, with the surviving members of Chisel.

Cobalt picked up his scroll. “Professor Ozpin.” His voice was quiet and broken.

“Are Scarlet and Heather there?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

Ozpin had to suppress more grief at the sound of them. “First of all, I want you all to understand that you bear no blame for Lilac’s death.” Heather looked like she might object and Ozpin silenced her with a glance. “You were placed in a very difficult situation through my own failings. You did very well for any of you to survive at all.”

“I was a _second_ too slow, Professor! Just a _second_. If I’d- if I’d-” Cobalt put his hand on Heather’s shoulder to calm her, giving an apologetic look to Ozpin which made him feel even worse for intruding.

“Scarlet, can you look after Heather? Professor Ozpin needs some information from me.”

Now Scarlet, barely holding it together herself and likely dealing with some guilt of her own, had to look after a teammate breaking down. With any luck it would help at least for now, but that didn’t make this any easier. And Cobalt had to recount a traumatic experience in sufficient detail to see if anything could be learned from it before it blurred.

After a difficult conversation, Ozpin finally let Cobalt go, with his most sincere regrets. He hoped they’d be able to support each other through this.

 

At the end of the day, Ozpin eventually went into his room. On the wall opposite his bed was a list of hundreds of names, with plenty of space left.

Right at the bottom was added:

“ _Lilac Griffin_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Comments appreciated as always.


	2. A day at the office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ozpin attempts to deal with a Grimm incursion into an under-garrisoned area.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really, really hate coming up with names. Why exactly did I do something which involves that so heavily?
> 
> EDIT: After developing everything a bit further, I've changed my thinking on some of the details of how the sequence of events here would go. I'll change it... eventually.

Ozpin had been looking through teachers’ reports for the end of term when the alarm went.

A scouting group of hunters, team StRiDeR, had seen a massive horde of Grimm heading towards Bluedell, a village in southwestern Vale. He received the call from Virida, Commander in the region, and pulled up a map of the area on his screen.

“How long do we have?”

“With Strider doing what they can, 4 hours. I’ve already called for full evacuation, but they won’t get away in time. It should give us a few more minutes, though. And save as many as possible.” This last was said with dark inevitability.

“How many Grimm?”

“Enough that we’d need at least a dozen good hunters. And we only have the four scouts, who are doing what they can.” A dozen hunters was about a hundred soldiers or AK-130s. Nothing like that was nearby. As always, there were not enough forces anywhere.

_ However... _ Ozpin zoomed out on the map. He  _ could _ halt the airborne evacuation, and use the airship they were using for that to pick up a team of scouts working further west.  _ That  _ might give time for the AK-130s on their way from the base at Esterash to arrive. Of course, if the scouts  _ didn’t _ slow the Grimm down enough, that meant they couldn’t get anyone out alive.

“Get everyone out of that airship. It’s needed to pick up team AUReuS. We’re getting all the townspeople out of this alive.” Ozpin pretended a confidence he didn’t feel. Virida needed to calm the villagers, and if she believed there was no hope that would be much harder.

“I’ll send the orders at once.”

 

The next few hours were torture for Ozpin. First the airship picked up AUReuS, and returned in about an hour. The green blob representing the villagers had barely moved, while the red blob of Grimm was approaching dangerously fast.

He considered the many other fighting retreats they’d had over the years, and what he remembered of the skills of the two teams. This would be close, and there was nothing he could do.

With AUReuS there as well, and the airship to pick up the stragglers, the rate of approach slowed. Then there was just the agony of watching a blue dot inch its way across the screen as the reinforcements approached.

Goodwitch entered the room. “Ozpin, Professor Oobleck wants your advice on...” She saw the density of information on the screen and Ozpin’s intense look. She knew he was busy with the war. “It can wait.” She tapped at her scroll to dismiss the message and turned around to go. “Good luck.”

Now team Strider was tiring and withdrew to set up defences in the now-empty village for the reinforcements to use. It was also where they would make their stand in a last desperate attempt to slow the Grimm, if the reinforcements were not fast enough. He contacted Virida again and received more information.

“Aureus are good. They’ll be able to thin the Grimm significantly, if nothing goes wrong. This risky plan of yours might just work. They’ll be exhausted before the final mop-up, though.”

“I think the AKs can handle that part. Your people can have a well-earned rest.”

“Most generous of you.”

After a couple more hours of Ozpin trying to do other work while keeping one eye on the major players, the endgame was approaching. The AKs were ten miles away and due in about ten minutes, while Aureus had retreated ahead of the Grimm to where Strider had set up a position. Radio chatter from the two teams filled Ozpin’s office in the final calm before the storm.

 

Then, after a hurricane of communication back and forth, it was over. Aureus and Strider had held the Grimm off long enough for the AKs to show up and destroy them in a hail of fire. The two teams were waiting to be flown back to Vale to rest and recover from their various injuries. The evacuated and still-frightened villagers were beginning to make their way back to their destroyed homes. They were all alive.

 

Ozpin took a sip from his mug and allowed himself a smile. Sometimes, you make the right decisions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not nearly as happy with this chapter as I was the first one. Ah, well.
> 
> Oh! Unrelated to this, I wrote a Python program for coming up with team names given four (or any number, really) letters. It's a mess, code-wise, but it works. Mostly. Duplicate letters won't, but I wasn't sure how best to handle them anyway.  
> [Here.](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1j-OdjCaXb2mfrak-jHl9bKVY7QkTKX7n)
> 
> My bottleneck right now is ideas, so if there's anything (short-ish) you'd like me to write, let me know. No promises, of course.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	3. Quadrille de Trois Danceuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ozpin attempts to prevent a war over some damned foolish thing in Eremus. (That mysterious continent north-west of Sanus. It doesn’t have a name, so I decided on something obvious.)
> 
> Future events from the previous chapter three turned out to be dependent on several other things happening earlier. I'll keep it as chapter four for now, but there will be at least one more between this one and that.

_ Beep beep beep beep _ . Ozpin sighed. One proper night’s sleep without an emergency would be a miracle. Incoming call.  _ Calls _ . From Ironwood and Thatch, of Shade. If he took either of them first, the other would almost certainly know. He’d have to take both and hope that they could avoid their usual petty arguing long enough to inform him of what the problem was.

He got dressed, boiled the kettle (he doubted this would be sorted quickly) and sat in his usual chair before answering. They’d know he’d just woken, but there was no sense advertising the fact.

He pressed the button and two faces appeared on the screen. They glared but schooled their expressions immediately upon seeing his raised eyebrow.

“While I always appreciate information from either of you, I assume there’s a reason for calling at such an unorthodox hour?”

Thatch spoke first. “The General here seems to be of the opinion that resources  _ we discovered _ ,” Ironwood snorted. Oh dear. “beneath  _ our _ colony in Eremus, belong to him.”

Ironwood then explained, with multiple quickly-silenced interruptions from Thatch, that according to the initial colonisation agreements and equipment leases, any and all resources discovered were Atlas property. Ozpin, not knowing the exact terms, for now merely tried to get them both to agree to Valean legal adjudication.

Predictably, one of them refused.

“Vale’s legal system is much closer to Atlas’s than Vacuo’s”, she explained. “I cannot trust any legal scholar originally trained in Vale to correctly interpret Vacuan contract law.”

Ironwood now clearly felt he had won.

“Atlas is of course willing to accept Vale as an impartial arbiter in this dispute. It does not say good things about Vacuo’s arguments that they clearly expect you to rule against them.”

Ozpin attempted to hold the middle ground at least for a little while more.

“Whom would you have as an arbitrator?”

“I can assemble a panel of impartial-”

Ironwood interjected, “Ozpin! You cannot expect me to accept-” Ozpin held up his hand.

“Thatch, while I appreciate the offer, I’m sure you understand that such an arrangement would be unacceptable to Atlas. Rest assured that the working group will take advice from all parties.” As if that would possibly be enough for Thatch.

So. It seemed Atlas had manipulated Vacuo into agreeing to terms which turned out impressively lopsided, and now Vacuo was trying to back out. Both Ironwood and Thatch had domestic enemies who would scream betrayal at any compromise and there were enough armed troops in Eremus to restart the Great War.

This would take some time. Hopefully he could come back with a solution shortly, once tempers had died down.

“If you both agree to take no further action on this point, I will speak to my advisors and provide a framework for coming to an equitable arrangement.”

“Atlas is willing to be patient in the interests of justice.”

Thatch was thinking rapidly. “My people will wait a short while. But only that.”

“Thank you both.” Ozpin ended the call.  _ Wonderful _ .

He checked the time. 03:00. But there were still some wheels to set in motion before he could get as much sleep as possible before his duties in the morning. He needed to organise a group of lawyers and get everything rubber stamped by Vale Council. He set to it.

 

Ozpin checked the newspapers from all four kingdoms the next morning. The Vale and Mistral ones were ideologically split along their usual lines, while those in Atlas and Vacuo were all beating the patriotic drum. While this was all expected, it would hardly help to deescalate the situation.

Later, after an extended meeting with the mayor of Vale and the Attorney General, who on preliminary analysis agreed with Ironwood about the contracts, Ozpin was still trying to work out a solution. The mayor had ruled out any threat of intervention, stating that Vale’s holdings in Eremus could not be risked by moving the defensive forces. This left him only the respect the other two still held for him to use as a lever.

A message came in from Thatch on the personal line.

 

_ Ozpin, _

_ This will cost me a lot, but less than a war would cost us all. I will fulfil the contract. Give me a few days to make the necessary arrangements. Please inform Ironwood that any hostile-seeming acts are for domestic consumption only. _

_ Thatch _

 

Ozpin breathed a sigh of relief. Now all he had to do was prevent Ironwood from making backing down impossible.

“General Ironwood, Atlas Armed Forces.”

“General. I have found a solution to our problem in Eremus, but it’ll take some compromise on your part as well.”

“Atlas will have what’s hers.”

“And Thatch has agreed to give it to you, on certain conditions. Be as conciliatory as possible, whatever she does.”

Ironwood considered this. “Alright. I’ll trust you on this, Ozpin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not know nearly enough about politics or diplomacy to write something like this properly. If anyone reading this knows more, I would love to learn. In the meantime, please forgive my errors.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	4. Viennese Waltz

Several days later, Ironwood was speaking to the Atlesian Council.

“I have received an assurance from Thatch that she will give us our due within the week. Ozpin has asked for patience.”

Jacques Schnee was not reassured. “Those Dust mines could supply Vacuo for a decade if properly developed. To allow Vacuo to control them would seriously damage Atlesian industry.” By which he meant it would break his monopoly.

“I trust Ozpin.”

“He’s been trying to break me for decades! I will not allow this!”

Ironwood narrowed his eyes. “You do not have the authority here. The Council will vote.”

Once Ironwood had given personal assurances that Ozpin would not let Vacuo tear apart the international order so blatantly, the Council eventually voted against taking action.

 

The next morning, Ozpin was again woken far too early by his secretary bringing bad news. Vacuan newspapers were reporting movements of troops, presumably to Eremus. He called Thatch.

 

“I assure you, it is nothing to worry about. I am merely taking actions consistent with my public position. To do anything else would reveal my true intentions.”

“I worry that the stronger you make Vacuo’s position, the weaker you make yours when you _do_ reveal yourself. Might it help to have Ironwood escalate on his end?”

“No. Any aggressive action from Atlas would merely strengthen the call to war.”

A call arrived for Ozpin from Ironwood. He looked intently at Thatch.

“Ironwood will think you’ve betrayed him, and I’m not sure I can convince him otherwise. What do you plan to do if he imposes sanctions on you?”

Thatch smiled. “Atlas using their greater industrial weight to push us around, when they destroyed so much of ours within living memory? If I backed down I’d be gone within a week. Make your decision, but remember that we cannot afford a war.” Thatch ended the call.

So. This was starting to look like Thatch had no intention of abiding by their agreement. The question now was whether to help Ironwood oppose this or present it to him as a fait accompli. Anything in between could be disastrous. Sanctions from Vale as well might help politically, but there were already factions in Vacuo suspicious of them for their closeness to Atlas.

 

“Ozpin, I have just heard troubling reports from Vacuo.”

“Thatch has responded to internal pressures by upping the intensity of her posturing. I think it would be helpful if you were to do the same.”

Ironwood was shocked. “Are you quite sure? You’re taking a major risk.”

“You know as well as I that if Thatch feels she can gain advantage by force we will face much larger risks in the long run.”

Ironwood smiled grimly. “I’m not going to argue. They’ll be on their way within the hour.” So. Ironwood had been prepared. “But Ozpin, I’m not hopeful. Without help from Vale I won’t be able to force Thatch to back down.”

“Mayor Lawrence will understand the importance of this.”

Ozpin would have to convince the Vale Parliament to support intervention, or all they had worked for might be destroyed.

 

The Mayor again refused to put intervention to a vote.

“Why are you working with Atlas here? There’s a lot of sympathy for Vacuo among the people.”

“Because we can’t risk a war, so we must not support those who do. Vacuo gaining from this exchange would irrevocably weaken the international order.” They had this discussion rather more frequently than Ozpin would have liked.

“Speaking of which, what _does_ Mistral think of this?”

“Mistral is quite happy to leave peacekeeping duties to Vale, and Menagerie has no resources to spare.”

“ _This_ is the order you are willing to risk war to preserve?”

“Without order, we _will_ have war.”

The mayor drummed his fingers on the desk. “No, I can’t let you risk dragging Vale into this.”

Ozpin leaned forward, looking at the mayor over his glasses. “Do you think that if Atlas and Vacuo fall to the Grimm, as, make no mistake, they will in the event of a war, Vale will survive?”

While this might have intimidated Lawrence at the beginning of his term, he’d spent enough time by now interacting with Ozpin to deal with this with equanimity. “I’ll level with you, Ozpin. I don’t trust the General. I think that with your support he will take risks he otherwise wouldn’t.”

“Then we must at least work with Atlas to impose sanctions.”

“Will they help?”

“Headmistress Thatch will not give up on this issue, but it will discourage her from similar actions in future.”

“I will show willing, but no more. Long-term sanctions would be an unconscionable burden on Vale’s economy.”

“It took a war to build this diplomatic system. I’m not sure anything short of another will repair it.”

“One small incident will not break the entire system.”

Ozpin was unable to convince him of the risk he was taking.

 

“General Ironwood, Atlas Armed Forces.”

“General. I’ve been unsuccessful in my attempts to gain authorisation for military action in this incident.”

Ironwood was furious. “Had you not told me to trust Thatch, I might have been able to nip this in the bud. I stood up for you _and her_ in Council. If I can’t control this now, Schnee will have my head. And you would not like Atlas with one of his puppets in charge.” That much was true. “You should never have put civilians in charge of the military.” _That_ was not a point Ozpin was interested in discussing right now. A pause. “Your Mayor Lawrence leaks like a sieve, especially when he’s stood up to you. Thatch will know all of this before tomorrow.”

“We have, in this instance, failed. There is no way we can take control of this situation without unacceptable risk.” Maybe he could take advantage of this? “To prevent this happening again, it might help if you fully recognised Menagerie-”

“So that another civilian government can refuse to take the hard decisions?” This did not seem to be the right time. “Atlas, Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo all agreed to prevent war between us. I see that Atlas alone has kept her word.”

 

A few weeks later Vacuo began extracting the discovered Dust. Vale and Atlas both imposed sanctions, to no effect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took far longer to write than it should have, and I'm still not happy with it. Ah, well.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	5. London’s Burning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This is what was originally chapter three. What is now chapter three (and now chapter four as well) is new.)
> 
> You can skip most of what Professor Oobleck says. He was fun to write and I got a little carried away.

“So if  _ that _ wasn’t enough, Yang chose that moment to make a comment to Mr Winchester about his team’s performance against Miss Nikos. Now, you know I don’t think much of his interpersonal skills in general, but he is protective of his team, so soon enough RWBY and CRDL were at each other’s throats. RWBY won handily, of course.” Here Glynda sighed. “Mr Winchester still hasn’t learned to guard his left side, especially against weapons like Miss Rose’s, while Mr Thrush needs more practice dealing with very aggressive fighters, which Miss Xiao Long...” Now was not the time. She would bring it up in the next class.

Ozpin, as always, looked slightly amused at antics he should be taking more seriously.

“Ozpin, I know you disagree with me on this, but we need to make an example of this sort of aggressive behaviour. It’s dangerous.”

“If that is the greatest danger they ever have to face I shall consider myself fortunate. From what I saw they were all very restrained.”

Glynda knew him well enough by now not to be surprised that he’d been watching. Or that he considered a fight between two teams which had wrecked a large area of the grounds to be “restrained”.

“So there will be no consequences?”

“You can give them one of your speeches, and some token punishment, but I don’t think any more than that is required. We need spirit from them, after all.”

“You just trust your ability to manipulate loose cannons.”

“A shift in weight at the right time can be just what is needed.” That this was a strategy few could pull off, and which was risky even for one of his experience, went without saying.

 

A message came up on Ozpin’s screen:

_ Order placed with the Schnee Dust Company by AAF.  _ [Atlas Armed Forces] _ 1 unit. _

With the message came a blueprint. Ozpin’s spies were doing their jobs.

This... was not good news. “We’ll come back to that discussion. James is planning something.”

Ozpin showed Glynda the message and the blueprints, which were of a large fighting vehicle. She took a moment to switch from Professor to military advisor, and a couple more to work out what she was looking at. “That’s not for use against Grimm.”

“No. That spaced armour is for one thing only.”

“Only one unit? This is for testing purposes, then.”

“Yes.”

Ozpin opened a comms line. “Bartholomew, can you come up here, please?” He sent the plans along. Oobleck would want something to do in the elevator. The two went back to looking over the blueprints.

A very short amount of time later, Oobleck burst in. “Yes, a very nice design. Did Ironwood send it to you?”

“No.”

Ozpin explained the situation.

“Dreadful, simply dreadful. To think that General Ironwood would betray your trust like this! It is a very good design, though. They’ve clearly learned from their mistakes with the drivetrain in the AV-50 series. Notice the sprocket wheels are at the rear this time. That suggests a major shift in doctrine, as with the 50s they thought it better to keep the front drive, even with the engine at the back, despite the reliability issues that caused. I’d agree the armour is anti-ballistic, with all that implies. Do you think he’s planning to break the Kuchinashi treaty?” Glynda was trying to keep up. She’d never been much interested in engineering.

“I don’t know yet.”

“Ah, this is  _ brilliant _ ! 15° of gun depression is very impressive. I think they’re designing a different gun for it, though. See the additional space here?”

“Interesting.”

“It is necessary. That 100mm one it has there has been only mediocre against current production models. But look at the armour design here. That’s Atlesian overengineering. Overlapping and welded plates? Completely unnecessary! That’ll drive the cost up. Very nice angles, though. Only our heaviest could hope to get through that.” Glynda had given up at this point and was thinking through the implications.

All four kingdoms and even Menagerie had some tanks, for use clearing out nests and defending positions. And while Hunters would tear through the unmanoeuvrable vehicles, they would be very useful in taking out conventional forces. A tank designed for destroying other tanks rather than Grimm would probably be more effective, though she didn’t know how much. And that’s what the Kuchinashi treaty was meant to prevent.

Glynda broke into the increasingly-esoteric discussion. “So what are you going to do?”

Ozpin leaned back and took a sip from his mug.

“I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Help I seem to have started something resembling a storyline now and I haven’t planned it at all.  
> The engineering comments I hope are mostly accurate, though they come from merely an enthusiastic amateur. I’m a bit worried about the spaced armour comment, because (I think) that implies use of HEAT shells, and I have no idea how effective that would be against whatever Grimm use for armour.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	6. Pax Londinii

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ATEN'T DEAD.  
> I'm afraid expecting any sort of consistency in updates in this would be wildly overoptimistic. To do it justice would require so much more knowledge than I have, and without that it takes a lot longer than it should.  
> EDIT: [Having thought about Mistral a little more](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20363413), I've decided I need to do a lot more thinking. The way the Mistralian government is implied to work here will change.

“Would we survive another war?” Glynda asked, after Oobleck had been dismissed to continue his analysis of the blueprints.

“There always might be a spark.”

Glynda was unconvinced, but humanity’s survival resting on James having sense talked into him was not a comforting thought.

“Alright. So what’s our approach?” Staying calm under pressure had always been her strength.

“We tell him what we know. With any luck he’ll do the right thing.”

 

“General Ironwood, Atlas Armed Forces.”

“James, what the _Hell_ are you playing at?” Glynda was, however, a great believer in directness in diplomacy.

“Glynda! Always a delight.”

Ozpin forestalled Glynda’s response with a glance. “General, we’ve come into possession of some ... troubling intelligence. Can you confirm that you plan to abide by the terms of the Kuchinashi treaty?”

Ironwood’s expression immediately vanished. “I assure you that Atlas has no plans to risk the outbreak of war.”

“I’ll speed this up. Here is a message we received from sources in Atlas.” Ozpin sent over enough of the blueprint to be clear that he had the whole, while avoiding any source-specific details. “We are aware that you have ordered one of these from the SDC. Please, explain yourself.” It was a credit to his self-control that his tone remained cordial throughout.

“I imagine you’ve seen the plans for Shade’s ISV-2?”

“Of course. This, however, is not the correct way to deal with it. I assure you, I have the situation well under control.”

Ironwood’s eyes narrowed. “Ozpin, if you don’t tell me these things, Atlas will defend itself. Especially after the recent incident.”

This was getting him nowhere. “General, I will unfortunately be meeting with Mayor Lawrence to consider our reaction to this flagrant breach of the treaty. You have put me in a very difficult position.”

Ironwood’s eyes narrowed, but he otherwise kept his neutral expression. “The Atlas Council has voted.” He ended the call.

Ozpin put his head in his hands.

“ _Did_ you know about the ... ISV-2?” Glynda asked, clearly wondering if she had been left out of the loop.

“No. No I did not. We shall see what Qrow can find out.” He didn’t entirely trust Ironwood, and some solid evidence would be useful diplomatically.

 

By Ozpin’s mid-afternoon meeting with Mayor Lawrence, Qrow’s network had obtained full plans for the vehicle, and information that an order had been placed for a full hundred units. Vacuo’s corruption did have its uses.

“We don’t of course have the economic weight to levy effective sanctions on both,” said the Mayor, after the situation had been explained. “And targeted sanctions aren’t particularly effective against Atlas, for obvious reasons.” Those being that the Atlesian political leadership was made up of large business owners, to the point where targeting them was very nearly targeting the entire economy, and that the domestic arms industry was strong enough that imports from Vale were a rounding error. “So we need our _allies_ ,” (given that Mistral and Menagerie had a very hands-off approach to foreign policy, Lawrence’s derision was somewhat justified) “to support us here.”

“I will bring them to the table, if you could begin writing up some proposals.”

 

“Chief Belladonna.”

“Ozpin. This is … unusual.”

“I’m sure you’re aware of the deterioration in relations between Vacuo and Atlas.”

“I am.”

“We have obtained solid evidence that both parties have broken the Kuchinashi treaty.”

“So you want my help bringing them back into line. I should have known. However, I do not see what this has to do with me.”

Ozpin continued: “Vale wishes to impose sanctions upon both powers, and formally requests the assistance of both Menagerie and Mistral.”

“While of course I wish you luck, Menagerie unfortunately cannot help. There are few goods I could tariff without imposing an unacceptable burden on my people, and the retaliatory tariffs would cripple our industry. We do not all have Vale’s deep pockets, Ozpin.”

“Which makes it even more vital you do not have to compete in an arms race.”

Because that, of course, was the point. The Kuchinashi treaty intended to make sure that all military forces were designed for use against Grimm, rather than against each other. While sizeable military forces couldn’t be prevented in such a dangerous world, at least they could be made useful. Menagerie could certainly not afford to maintain two separate militaries. Still, sanctions would be expensive, and the support of Menagerie would change little.

Ozpin could see that Ghira was unconvinced. “If you work with us, I will make sure that Atlas’ full diplomatic recognition of Menagerie is one of the conditions.”

Ghira looked at him in shock. Given the long-standing animosity of Schnee to the idea, this was a concession out of all proportion with the benefits. He accepted eagerly.

 

“And how well would your forces fare against hundreds of _these_?” Ozpin sent over a copy of the Atlesian blueprints, which Lionheart glanced at then showed to the advisor next to him.

“We won’t have to.” Lionheart, as always, blustered to cover uncertainty. “Atlas and Mistral have no quarrel with each other.”

“Vacuo is rapidly militarising. Menagerie has little they want. Vale has me. How safe is Mistral?

As Lionheart reassessed his position, his advisor started whispering urgently. He blanched.

“Ah. Um. Very well, Ozpin, Mistral will join your talks.”

 

And so Mayor Lawrence, Chief Belladonna and Headmaster Lionheart met in Kuchinashi, along with a host of advisors. The talks took several days, occasionally held up by the observers from Atlas and Vacuo, who found themselves often in ironic alliance, though at other times in bitter contention.

 

The economic hit, when it came, was not as disastrous, for either side, as the pundits had predicted. Still, some factions from the plutocrats of Atlas began to exert pressure to normalise relations. Vacuo, as it was less developed and so less connected to the rest of Remnant, held up better. A couple of weeks later, Atlas, having tried and failed to make the usual inordinate amounts of money under the straitened circumstances, finally gave in.

“I will cancel plans for the vehicle, but diplomatic recognition under coercion is not possible.”

A promise was a promise, but this was costing everyone involved a lot of money each day it continued. “A compromise, then. Would you be willing to do so ostensibly for other reasons, after a discreet interval?”

“That would be acceptable.”

“I shall confer with Ghira.”

 

“Chief Belladonna speaking.”

“Ghira. General Ironwood has seen reason, but does not want his recognition seen as backing down, if possible. Unfortunately you will have to wait several months. Or we can continue, and force him to public surrender.”

Ghira put his head in his hands. “The Fang will eat me alive, but alright.” A pause. “So I can’t even regain their respect when it does happen.”

“I will not ask you not to claim credit, but who would believe you?”

Ghira swore.


	7. The Jaune Ultimatum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick chapter because the White Fang has turned out to be very hard to organise.

Ozpin looked on with his ever-present amused smile as Glynda became increasingly infuriated.

“I will not have him in my lessons! He’s not nearly good enough to make a decent partner for anyone else and I have to put enough effort into him that it’s decreasing my ability to help the others.”

“You don’t need to help him much. I have a feeling he’ll manage.”

“He does seem to have been improving in the last couple of weeks.” This was a little more thoughtful, but then the anger returned full force, “But he’s so far behind it would take me coaching him personally for several months just to bring him up to where he should have been at the start. And given the work ethic I’m hearing about from everyone else, I doubt he’d stick it out that long. You’re not helping him, you know.”

Ozpin just kept smiling, though now he had the grace to attempt to hide it slightly behind his coffee mug.

“He’s been getting disheartened recently, I can _feel_ it. And I don’t blame him! He wasn’t ready for this, and he still isn’t! If nothing else this makes a mockery of our entrance procedures. What if it were to get out that one of our leaders could barely face a beowolf?”

“His transcripts were more than adequate to gain him admittance. And once he is here, it’s our job to train him.”

“I’m starting to think he must have faked them, because they do not match what I have seen of him.”

“I assure you I had them checked very thoroughly.”

Glynda looked at him suspiciously, because he was _still smiling_ , but eventually decided she had no choice but to accept this. “And there’s nothing I’m telling you that you don’t know, so there’s something you’re not telling me.”

Ozpin’s smile widened.

Glynda sighed. “Listen, Ozpin, if I don’t know what’s going on I can’t plan. When it’s the politics that’s fine; I just do what you tell me to do. But this is my school as much as yours, and you’re disrupting it with your schemes and _not telling me why!_ ”

He frowned for a moment, trying to work out how to respond to her entirely legitimate concerns. “Jaune Arc will be one of our most valuable assets in the near future. I cannot tell you why, but I will say not to worry too much about his ability. He has a good team around him.”

This was enough to at least calm Glynda down. “Well, two of them, anyway. Not to mention that Miss Valkyrie’s enthusiasm – properly moderated – may be just what he needs.” She glared at him for this blatant scheming. “So I suppose Miss Nikos is the reason for the improvement I’ve seen. I’ll see if she has any more luck than I expect.”

The grin returned full force. “I’m sure she’ll be extremely persistent.”

“That attraction she has to him, you mean?” She might lack his centuries of experience, but she wasn’t _entirely_ blind. “It won’t last.”

“Just as you say. Either way.”

A few concerns remained. “And what of the impact this will have on the rest of his team? And did you have to make him leader?”

“They’ll manage, and yes. I did.”

Glynda continued to glare at him, while Ozpin smiled at her in a way that she knew, despite appearances, was apologetic.

“Glynda, please believe that I would tell you if I could.”

“So you’re _not_ just keeping it secret because you enjoy being the wisest person in the room?”

“Not this time.”


	8. Digging a trench...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names continue to be the bane of my existence.

About two years before, Ozpin had met with Sienna Khan of the White Fang. The meeting had itself taken weeks of negotiation, first to get into contact with the elusive head of a terrorist organisation, involving long series of messages relayed by Chief Belladonna, then assurances on the honour of both Ozpin and the leader of Menagerie that her safety would not be compromised.

A long-distance meeting had been proposed, but with such a tenuous relationship face-to-face was thought to be better.

“Unfortunately Mayor Reed could not be seen to negotiate with terrorists, but rest assured I shall communicate your demands to her.” Even if Ozpin had little power to make the necessary changes himself, by meeting the White Fang personally he at least assured them that the peace process was taken seriously.

“Headmaster Ozpin.” In the nondescript hotel room they had chosen in Vacuo, with Ozpin in his formal clothing and Sienna in her ostentatious finery, the scene looked exactly like the clash of civilisations they were meeting to avoid. The severe leader handed over the informal statement of demands.

Ozpin read the proffered paper, his eyebrow rising throughout. “While you address legitimate grievances, I am quite certain these demands will be considered unacceptable.” Khan smiled wryly at him. She was as aware as he was that the full extent of the demands was ridiculous.

A certain amount of wrangling ensued, with both attempting to determine where exactly the other was willing to bend. It quickly became clear that amnesty for fighters and outlawing discrimination were non-negotiable for the White Fang, while Ozpin, forced to abide by the Vytal Congress, was unable to prevent the SDC from operating within Vale, and all the other demands (as Khan had surely expected) had to be severely moderated.

As haggling continued, there was a cautious optimism in the air, that truly there were no irreconcilable differences. After many hours, and with the beginnings of a framework created, they parted to begin the long process of selling reconciliation to their respective constituencies.

 

The next meeting was more difficult. Mayor Kelly Reed saw the entire endeavour as too politically sensitive to be public about, given a couple of recent and well publicised atrocities, and the sheer scale of reform required as completely impossible.

“Of course,” as she sardonically informed Ozpin, “If the Fang were to intensify their campaign, I might have a better chance.” Ozpin felt that in this next meeting with Sienna Khan that statement might be better left unspoken.

Khan, meanwhile, had problems of her own. The Separatists, always kept on board by a careful dance of ambiguity, were utterly betrayed by the fundamentally Integrationist agenda of the talks. Meanwhile, the minor but extreme Supremacist faction felt that even the original slate of demands, which Ozpin had rejected out of hand, did not go nearly far enough.

Despite this, they persisted. As the first serious commitment from either side, Khan agreed that for as long as “sufficient progress is being made”, the Fang would launch no attacks in Vale.

As they left, they still hoped to resolve this without further bloodshed.

 

Negotiations soon slowed in the morass of amnesty. How long it would take, how absolute it would be and whether Ozpin’s list of those whom Reed said were under no circumstances to be released was acceptable. It wasn’t.

“I promised amnesty.” Khan bared her teeth, from habit falling into the animalistic mannerisms she used among Faunus as a political point. “The True West Valean White Fang is only with me because of that promise. I will agree to nothing which does not release Mr Thomas.”

About half the names on Ozpin’s list were like that. The other half were possibly negotiable, as their factions already despised the peace process, though by now they were revered as folk heroes by many, making their exclusion tricky at best.

 

Sienna Khan was unable to make it to their next meeting, because the Separatist faction was threatening to tear the White Fang apart. She’d privately requested a concession from Vale, warning that if her control wavered attacks would continue and future demands would be for a separate Faunus state in Vale.

Mayor Reed scoffed at this, when Ozpin repeated her request. “She’s trying to play it both ways. _She’s_ not a terrorist, but the _other_ people, she can’t control them, can she? It would be a shame if this splinter, who she’s working her hardest to stop, _honest_ , were to blow something up. Oh, and the only way you can stop this is to give her what she wants.”

“I believe her.”

“I’m not saying I _don’t_. It’s just that whether or not it’s true this is no way to run a negotiation. We gain nothing as long as we’re trying to please all of them. There will always be extreme elements, and it’s _Khan’s_ job to keep them under control.”

“She needs our help to do so.”

“And once we’ve conceded all we’re willing to to keep the negotiations going, what will we _offer_ them?”

“And if you don’t concede, what will you offer it _for_?”

Ozpin was unable to change her mind.

 

Two weeks later, the Department of Industry blew up.

 

“I can’t make the talks public now! I’ll look weak!”

“On the contrary. You will look like someone willing to make the hard choices and find novel solutions to previously-intractable problems. Or so your propaganda will put it, I’m sure.”

About two dozen had died, and many more been injured. The Hunters and military were on high alert because of the increase in Grimm attacks about to be brought on by it. And before the bodies were even cold, a message had come in on the secure line from Khan, promising retribution against those responsible and her continued full effort in reaching a peace agreement.

“Just an hour ago I condemned this as an attack on our very way of life, to be opposed at all costs!”

“And you shall oppose it. This was an attempt to drive a wedge between Faunus and human. To push us apart when we should be uniting. What better response than reconciliation?”

“Blast. I hate it when you’re right.”

 

The next time Ozpin and Khan met, rather than their previous hotel rooms they were in a conference hall, and rather than just the two of them there were a dozen on each side, representing Khan’s various factions and those advisers the newly-appointed Ambassador to the White Fang, Olive King, had been able to assemble on such short notice.

And Ozpin, no longer the intermediary, was merely there as yet another adviser.

 

"There is no way we can accept the terms on the quota for government jobs." The current Fang position was at least 20% at each level within ten years.

"With all due respect, your Excellency, Faunus make up 25% of the population. That seems entirely reasonable…"

 

"All disputes over anti-Faunus discrimination are to be settled in a court of law with an all-Faunus jury."

Had the Ambassador thought this was serious, she would have been speechless at such a ludicrous request. Ozpin, though, was quite sure from his preliminary discussions that it was a demand from a fringe group, and Khan was merely playing along in return for their cooperation. "That is fundamentally unacceptable. It would do irrevocable damage to the rule of law and the very principle of equality we are trying to establish…"

 

With the framework in place, and a bevy of lawyers at their beck and call, discussions moved quickly. On the second day of the summit, just over a year since their first meeting, Sienna Khan, now officially recognized as leader of the currently-legally-grey White Fang, spoke with Headmaster Ozpin, the ever-anomalous politician without fixed remit.

"A satisfactory start, I believe."

"We shall see." Khan was not nearly naive enough to trust in such promise continuing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is, somewhat embarrassingly, the longest chapter I’ve ever posted to AO3. As always, I’m not happy with it, but there we go.  
> Thank you for reading.


	9. ...through a minefield

“We’re getting nowhere. Absolutely nowhere.” Olive King, Special Ambassador to the White Fang, had just begun her daily chat with Ozpin, a couple of weeks after the negotiations began. They were old colleagues and Ozpin was the one who had begun the talks with Khan, so his perspective was useful. “They want a full amnesty and Kelly won’t give it to them. You said that Khan was wavering on some of the people, but, well, she’s stopped. Kelly wants us talking about disarmament but we can’t do _that_ until we know what they’ve got, and they won’t _tell_ us that until we have an agreement. Catch-bloody-22.”

Ozpin offered what advice he had, but he could no more see a way out than she could. Still, elections were coming up soon, and Ozpin privately felt that Lawrence, as an inexperienced statesman, would likely follow his advice if he won.

 

A helpful side effect of the rapprochement with the White Fang was a closer relationship with Menagerie, including anti-terrorist support against the remaining violent factions and promise of stricter measures against any material support originating there.

“The Separatists are losing support rapidly. Looks like many Faunus think they might be happy in Vale after all. The Supremacists, however, they’re a different story. Seems they were emboldened by your success.” Ozpin halted Qrow’s briefing with an upraised hand. While such developments were always impossible to predict, this was a shock. The Supremacists were a group so hardline that there was little compromise to be had, since even full equality would be seen as an insult. He needed more information to think this through, so lowered his hand.

“There’s a new kid on the block there, Adam Taurus. No-one’s seen his face ‘cause of this… Grimm mask thing he wears. He’s arguing that your negotiating with Khan is a clear sign of Faunus superiority. Standard Supremacist rhetoric.”

While it was important to keep tabs on this sort of thing, none of this was immediately actionable.

 

Ambassador King seemed to enter a spiral of despair over the next few days. “So there’s the amnesty and disarmament, which we’re getting nowhere with. Fine. But she wants a minimum 1-year prison sentence for discrimination against Faunus! Minimum!”

Ozpin said something vaguely conciliatory.

“And ten years is not _nearly_ long enough to get a good proportion of Faunus near the top of government.” Given the paucity of Faunus in the promotional pipeline, as well as in top private sector jobs, which this quota was meant to be a minor step to solving, the process would take thirty years or more. “But many of them are too short-term to think about that.” A pause. “I think Khan is reaching the end of her patience. She’s starting to give me dark warnings about factions, and I’m no longer convinced she’s doing all she can to stop them.”

This was worrying but not unexpected.

“You’re doing the best anyone could. Just keep her talking, and maybe something will come up.”

“Ever the optimist.”

“Even if it doesn’t, every day they’re talking is a day without an attack.”

“I always hated having lives depending on me.”

“That is our eternal burden. It... gets easier.”

 

As Ozpin was looking over some logistical reports for bases in southern Vale the next morning, a call came in from King.

“Ozpin, I need you here ASAP. Khan is threatening to walk out.”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Do you want Mayor Reed there as well?”

“Kelly’ll be here in five.”

 

By the time Ozpin reached the Special Ambassador’s corridor, a full-throated shouting match was ongoing.

“She’s still lying in hospital and you want to let her assassin go free?”

“I need something! Of the quota, disarmament and the amnesty, amnesty is the _only one_ we can move on. If we don’t do something _now_ this will _all_ fall apart.”

“And I suppose you’ve come here to tell me the same thing, but quieter and with an implied ‘I can and will get rid of you and replace you with someone more cooperative’?” This as Ozpin had actually reached the office. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled-for. But I’m not moving on this.”

“Could an exception for the Separatists work?”

Olive thought for a moment. “No. Khan needs to be unifying, so she can’t be seen to abandon any group. It’s all of them, or she walks.”

“Look, even if I wanted to, Cabinet would revolt. This would destroy my government.”

“Could we…” Olive paused. “I was _going_ to ask what would happen if we unilaterally brought in the legislation on the anti-disc and the quota, but that would make everything worse.”

“You’ll have to explain that.” Kelly was, of the three, the one who’d spent least time on this issue.

Ozpin answered. “Generally speaking, there are two approaches to dealing with terrorists. You can negotiate with them, or you can undermine them. Acting unilaterally now would be to undermine them, as it would be to attack their reason for existing without giving them a victory. However, they have far too much sympathy for that to destroy them, so after they intensified their demands they would still have support.” He turned to Kelly. “For the good of the Kingdom, you must put your personal feelings aside. You _know_ this is the right decision.”

The Mayor sat in silence for a minute or so, fists clenched. Finally, she put her head in her hands.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to Cabinet immediately.”

Olive ceded her office to the Mayor for immediate privacy, and she and Ozpin left. Ozpin got on with some unrelated work, while Olive merely fidgeted. Any work she could do would depend on the outcome of Kelly’s discussion. Finally, Mayor Reed sent a message asking them back.

“I have just ordered a last-minute change to my manifesto.” Ozpin gave an enigmatic smile and nod, while Olive, less constrained by her role, asked for details.

“I won’t be able to force this through on my own authority, so I need the people’s. I’ve asked for a paragraph to be added saying that all reasonable efforts will be made to pursue peace with the White Fang or something along those lines, and specifically mentioning a full amnesty.

“ _Unfortunately_ , this will push Lawrence into opposing it, so if I lose in a month you’ll be even further back.”

Neither of the other two could say much now that the conversation was so clearly political so they stayed silent.

Khan agreed to hold on for a month, though her warnings were increasingly dire.

 

“Mr Lawrence. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.” They were in Ozpin’s office, with Glynda standing just behind his chair, arms crossed.

“Unfortunately I think I’ll leave you disappointed. I will not negotiate with terrorists.”

Ozpin examined Lawrence over the top of his glasses for several seconds, leaving him visibly rattled.

“Their central demand is equality for the Faunus, which is a principle you have defended in your own manifesto.”

“That makes no odds. I will assign a commission to investigate methods of improving conditions for them, but I will not do so to placate murderers.”

 

“And now we have speaking to us Headmaster Ozpin, to discuss this _surprising_ addition to the manifesto. There are rumours that you pressured the Mayor into this change. Are they true?”

Ozpin, in his office, with a cup of coffee in his hand, gave a standard interviewee’s laugh. “As this is in the manifesto, it is a political question, to be decided by the people of Vale. I shall not attempt to influence their decision.”

“So you categorically deny that you are the reason it is there?”

“We discussed the issue and Reed decided on a course of action. As I say, since it is in the manifesto, my thoughts are irrelevant.”

  


“Ozpin! Lawrence wants to leave the talks! You have to stop him.” It was the morning after the election and they had both stayed up through the whole night preparing for the many shifts in direction which came with that.

“I _can’t_.”

“You can.” Olive’s despair was beginning to feed into directionless anger.

“And that is why I mustn’t.”

“This is important!”

“ _Everything_ is important. If I overrule an election whenever I please this might as well not be a democracy.”

Olive stared at him, eyes glittering. “Then people will die.”

“I know.”

 

It took little over a week before a bomb was set under the local SDC headquarters in Vale. This time, Sienna Khan herself claimed responsibility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> EDIT (22/09/19): I'm still here, but uni's starting up again soon, so I have no idea how much writing I will do. If none, I'll see you in a few months.


End file.
